


Can't Stand You (But It's Not Why You Think)

by benjji2795



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Accidental Love Confession as a Pseudo Confession of Hate, M/M, accidental love confession, but what else is new, they're idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 10:46:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10615287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benjji2795/pseuds/benjji2795
Summary: Takes place after the comic "Dibs Flip."Dex complains privately to his sister on the phone about the craziness that's just taken place--except, oops, the door to his room is open and certain someone just happens to be coming by.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this yesterday on Tumblr for a fic meme post. It was a single sentence prompt, and the prompt was "H-how long have you been standing there?" And from that, came this. Hope y'all enjoy it :)

When Will’s sister picks up on the 2nd ring, he doesn’t even bother to say hi.

 

“Fuck this.  Fuck the Haus, fuck dibs, fuck Ransom and Holster, fuck quarters, fuck hockey.  Fuck.  Everything,” Will fumes.

 

Alex is quiet for a moment.  “I’m sure you don’t mean that.”

 

“Yes I do,” Will retorts.  “Because of some grade-A crazy bullshit, I’m now sharing a room at the Haus with  _him_.”

 

“I thought he was getting Lardo’s room and you were–”

 

“Getting the attic?  Yeah, that’s what we all thought, except my idiot captains gave the attic to Ollie and Wicks.”

 

“Okay, I mean that’s odd, but not–what did you say?  Grade-A crazy bullshit?” Alex replies.

 

“I haven’t even gotten to that yet,” Will says.  “So Lardo can’t decide because like, Nursey basically wrote her thesis or whatever.  I mean, who cares that all the shit I’ve done to keep the Haus standing was more important to the team, right?  So Bitty comes up and is like, ‘oh, let’s do a dibs flip.’  Like a coin flip.  So–”

 

“Okay, wait, so if there was a coin flip for it, how are you sharing?” Alex asks, clearly confused.

 

“Yeah, this was the bullshit.  It rolled and got stuck in between two floorboards!  Exactly on its side!” Will nearly shouts, feeling that same mixture of anger and despair he felt as he watched the whole thing unfold in front of his eyes.

 

“So it was a tie.  And now you have to share,” Alex says plainly.

 

“Yes.  Oh fuck  _me_ ,” Will curses.  “How am I going to survive Alex?  How?  Sometimes I can barely stand to be around him, how am I supposed to share a room with him?”

 

“You could always just–not,” Alex says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world and Will is an idiot for not thinking of it himself.

 

“Ha! Right, like I’m going to give him the satisfaction.  He said I would move out by September at the latest.  And maybe I can’t stand being around him, but my pettiness is–uh–” 

 

Will falters as he spins around in his desk chair.  When he got back to his dorm room, he had propped the door open (he’s trying to be friendly and prove to his floor that he’s not a total weirdo).  And now, standing in that open doorway, is Nursey.

 

“Fuck my life,” Will mutters.

 

“Billy?” Alex responds questioningly.

 

“I have to go Alex, I’ll call you back later,” Will says, pulling the phone away from his ear and ending the call.  He takes a deep breath as he puts his phone face down on his desk.  “H-how long have you been standing there?”

 

“Long enough, Poindexter,” Nursey shrugs.  “I just came by to bring you this book.  You left it at the Haus.”

 

“It’s what not what it sounds like, Nursey,” Will says, springing to his feet.

 

“It’s chill dude,” Nursey answers, his expression appearing unfazed.  But after two years as his partner on the ice (and often off it), Will can somewhat read him.

 

He can see his disappointment in the slight drop of his head, the way his eyebrows have gone up just a bit, and of course his eyes.  Will has learned that Nursey’s eyes always give something away, whether he’s able to understand what they’re saying or not.

 

“That’s bullshit,” Will counters.  “And I know that you know that I know that.”

 

“So what if it is?  What gives you the right to know?” Nursey retorts angrily.  “You clearly don’t give a fuck about me, so why should I tell you?”

 

“That’s not true and you know it!”

 

“Do I?  Do I know that?  Because not even two minutes ago, I stood in your doorway and listened to you tell your sister that you can barely stand to be around me.  That sounds like someone who doesn’t care to me,” Nursey replies sharply and they’ve argued before, but something in Nursey’s voice is different this time.

 

Because Nursey is used to people not caring about him.  He’s gone through his whole life surrounded by people like that.  And he thought Will did care about him because, despite all their difficulties, they’re pretty close friends (even if they still annoy the hell out of each other from time to time)–and he does–but it doesn’t look that way right now.  

 

Will gets that.  But what Will doesn’t understand is why this seems so devastating to him.  It’s not like no one cares about him–there’s Lardo, Bitty, Chowder, and a whole slew of others.  What’s different about him?

 

“It’s–listen, you heard one statement out of context–”

 

“You said it twice.”

 

“How many times I said it isn’t important–”

 

“Not to you maybe.”

 

“Fuck, Nursey, would you just listen to me for one minute!” Will shouts, and Nursey clamps his mouth shut, but continues to glares at him.  “I’ve been talking about you to Alex since day one.  Day one!  She knows a fuckton of things that you don’t!  So when I tell her that I can barely stand to be around you sometimes, she knows that it’s not because I hate you!  It never is and it never was.”

 

Nursey snorts derisively.  “’She knows things you don’t.’  Super convincing argument, Poindexter.  I’m supposed to just–take your word for it?  Oh, of course, because you said you don’t hate me, and just because you said it, it must be true.  Yeah, fuck you.”

 

“If I didn’t love you so much, I’d punch you in your fucking face right now,” Will quips.

 

Nursey’s brow furrows.  “What did you say?”

 

“That I want to punch you?”

 

“No, the other part.”

 

“If I didn’t lo–oh for fuck’s sake,” Will groans, throwing his head back, praying for death to take him quickly.  It’s become such a natural part of his emotions when he’s around Nursey that it’s no wonder it finally slipped out on accident.

 

“I’m going to guess that that’s what your sister knows that I don’t, right?” Nursey questions, and Will expected him to sound shocked or angry not–fucking bemused.

 

“Yep, and if you’re going to laugh at me, you better leave right fucking now, because not even that will stop me from punching you,” Will says, sitting on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands.

 

“I’m not going to laugh,” Nursey says.  “I wouldn’t do that to you.”

 

Will doesn’t know what to say to that, so he doesn’t say anything.

 

“I think–I think I understand what you were saying now,” Nursey says, and Will feels the bed dip gently as Nursey perches next to him.  “It would be hard to see me every day–be in close quarters when you feel the way you do.  You were scared that you would say something like you just did.”

 

Will nods.  “Doesn’t matter though, ‘cause I said it just now.”

 

“Now.  Later.  Either way, I wouldn’t have minded,” Nursey says quietly.  “I’m glad it’s out there now.”

 

There’s a strange, swooping feeling in Will’s stomach as he lowers his hands away from his face.  “Nursey–” is all he gets out before Nursey is pressing their lips together.

 

It takes Will a second, but he kisses back.

 

“You know I was excited to be sharing a room with you because I was hoping you would eventually figure out how I felt, right?” Nursey asks.

 

“Oh.”

 

“Have I mentioned that you continue to surprise me?”

 

“No,” Will answers, his brain still struggling to string words together that aren’t  _he kissed me he kissed me he kissed me_.

 

“Well you are,” Nursey says.  “I would’ve never guessed that you would feel that way–or that you would be the one to say it first.”

 

“S-same t-though,” Will stutters, the stutter in his voice matching the stuttering of his heart.

 

“So–do you think you can stand to share a room with me now?” Nursey asks, and if Will didn’t want to kiss him again, he would shove him off the bed.


End file.
